Why Do People Like Lightning So Much ?

[Yubel-Lover]

Yeah, she's only human. ---you know what I mean.
I don't necessarily disagree with you, Yubei, I think we see something more or less similar. I just see her as a bit more of a victim, and I'd maybe put Snow in the typical leading role instead but she's a pretty cool character.

I think the thing with her popularity is a lot of people aren't very sympathetic to characters that whine, regardless of having a good reason. Hence why you see so many complaints about Hope and his mom, and you don't see many about Sazh, who takes his tragedy in stride and is generally well-liked because of it. I'm thinking it's the same thing with Lightning; She doesn't whine from the getgo, she takes decisive action---sometimes that decisive action is smacking Sazh, punching Snow, slapping Fang. Well-deserved from her perspective at least.

Yeah, I think we mostly agree
Personally, I really like realistic, well written and threedimensional characters. I don't really care if a certain character is badass or whiny, as long as they can back it up with some development/growth/motives/good reasons throughout the story (which is why I really like Hope for example).

Which is why I'm wondering why on earth she's so loved. It's not really because she's a cold-hearted character or not. It's more of the physical abuse she keeps on dealing out to other characters. Whether she saw her sister's "dead body " or not, doesn't really excuse it. Same with Snow being a naive brat. You don't treat people like that son.

Is it a "tough " character trait ? No, it's called being a asshole.

I mean Cecil kills people at the beginning of his game, and Zidane starts off as a sexual harasser, but they change/ live and learn and grow. I don't remember Light ever doing this ? Though, I could be wrong here.

Physical abuse? The only time Lightning ever hits someone else is in Chapter 3 when she punches Snow. And that happens because (self-quoting):

She was angry as hell. Angry at Snow for failing to protect Serah despite all his big talk, but mostly angry at herself for doing nothing. I think that in this regard Lightning felt inferior to Snow, a person she didn't even like to begin with. Because even though Snow failed to protect Serah, at least he tried. He did everything he could: he trusted her, supported her, and helped her constantly, no matter what the problem was. Lightning on the other hand didn't, therefore the anger, the blame, and the guilt. This also leads to the punching scene in Chapter 3, where Lightning simply couldn't take anymore of that “I'll protect Serah” bullcrap that Snow kept throwing at her all the time.

Lightning is not perfect, she's a human and as such she makes mistakes. How many times do people get angry over some of the most stupid reasons? However, she aknowledges those mistakes and learns from them (like whe she reconciles with Snow in chapter 7).

I totally agree, no character development whatsoever.

I'm getting tired of repeating the same things over and over again, it's like people refuse to listen. No character development? Have you played the game? Do I need to point out every single cutscene where Light gets dvelopment?